What were the sounds of the shipyard?

How can we imagine those sounds and bring them to life, years after the shipyard has closed, the buildings are derelict, and the ships long gone? What meanings can we take from the history of this place, and how are those meanings captured in sound? Our artist / historian Stacey Carter, with sound artist Evelyn Ficarra, has been going through naval archives and searching for sound materials from a broad range of sources. We’re gathering memories, contemporaneous reports, and historical documents; trawling through sound archives, listening out for the materials that will help us build an aural picture. Sound is tied to place, and the place has changed almost beyond recognition, while the monumental Gantry Crane has looked over it all. Still, we can use our imaginations and think ourselves back into that world.

From these many sources, including from her own collection of recorded sounds spanning many years, Evelyn Ficarra is creating imaginary impressions of this industrial / maritime world, in preparation for the Crane Illumination of October 2026. Beyond the archives, the imagination takes over and explores the textures, emotions and meanings that sounds contain. You can hear a sneak preview of how the sounds are developing here….